Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Nicholas J. Calderon, Parks Director
Subject: First Amendment to the Ground Lease with CuriOdyssey for use of real property located at 1651 Coyote Point Drive in the Coyote Point Recreation Area
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution authorizing the President of the Board of Supervisors to execute the First Amendment to the Ground Lease with CuriOdyssey for use of real property located at 1651 Coyote Point Drive in the Coyote Point Recreation Area.
body
BACKGROUND:
CuriOdyssey is a not-for-profit science and wildlife center that has operated on County-owned land within the Coyote Point Recreation Area (“Coyote Point”) since 1953. Using educational programs, interactive exhibits, and a wildlife center CuriOdyssey helps children develop the tools necessary to understand the changing world. Annually, approximately 200,000 people visit its campus.
Seeking to expand its services to members, visitors, and program participants, in 2012 CuriOdyssey approached the County about constructing significant upgrades to its campus. As part of its campus overhaul proposal, CuriOdyssey desired to construct eight new buildings/exhibits that would support new science exhibits, exhibit workshops, learning labs, a field station for observations, animal habitat, administration space, and concessions.
Because CuriOdyssey operated on County-owned land pursuant to a lease agreement that was set to expire in 2024, and given the capital investment required to construct the proposed campus improvements, in 2021, CuriOdyssey requested a new long-term lease agreement. Recognizing the important service CuriOdyssey provides to the community, on March 22, 2022, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 078775 which: (1) authorized a new Ground Lease with CuriOdyssey for the continued use of its existing campus to operate a science and wildlife center; (2) authorized CuriOdyssey to upgrade its campus in accordance with the County-approved site plan, including by expanding its leasehold to accommodate construction of the new buildings/exhibits and by demolishing the existing museum building to construct a new administration building; and (3) determined that CuriOdyssey’s expansion project was exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to section 15302 of the CEQA Guidelines, which exempts from CEQA review the replacement or reconstruction of existing structures and facilities where the new structure will be located on the same site as the structure replaced and will have the same purpose and capacity as the structure replaced. On June 24, 2023, CuriOdyssey opened the Bay Gallery and Labs, which is Phase 1 of its campus improvement project.
The Ground Lease, which has an initial term of 30 years, and two 15-year extension options, is primarily administered by the Parks Department (“Department”) due to its location within Coyote Point.
DISCUSSION:
Since its execution in 2022, the Department and CuriOdyssey have determined that the Ground Lease should be amended for several purposes, including: (i) to clarify certain provisions; (ii) to better define each party’s roles and responsibilities; and (iii) to clarify the processes by which future phases of CuriOdyssey’s campus improvements would be approved and implemented. The proposed First Amendment to the Ground Lease clarifies, among other things, that CuriOdyssey will seek County approval prior to revising its current site plan which is incorporated into the Ground Lease as Exhibit A-1, and that any changes to the site plan must be compliant with CEQA. The First Amendment also stipulates that CuriOdyssey must replace, at its sole cost and to the County’s standard, any existing public serving facility or infrastructure it decommissions as part of its campus improvement project.
So that CuriOdyssey does not make a financial investment into the planning and design of a project to which the County is opposed or not willing to approve, the First Amendment sets forth a process by which the County would review and provide feedback, or preliminary approval of, CuriOdyssey’s future campus improvements at the schematic design phase.
The First Amendment also establishes that the Department will maintain a 400-foot-long segment of service road in Coyote Point that CuriOdyssey was required to build as part of Phase 1 of their campus improvement project, and in exchange CuriOdyssey will provide the Department with access to CuriOdyssey’s exhibits for 10 public programs each year.
The First Amendment increases the number of special events CuriOdyssey can host annually from 100 to 120, and redefines what constitutes a “special event” to mean events having more than 50 attendees (an increase from the original Ground Lease which defined a special event as having more than 30 attendees). Special event allotments are set seasonally (40 special events from January through April; 50 special events from May through October; and 30 special events from November through December) to ensure CuriOdyssey can serve its visitors without impacting public access to County park facilities. These changes will allow CuriOdyssey to host more special events annually, which will be primarily, but not exclusively, children’s birthday parties.
Lastly, the First Amendment restates that the County makes no warranty regarding the suitability of the leasehold area for future development, and as such the County has no responsibility to repair landslides or other natural disasters that might impact CuriOdyssey’s campus or the surrounding areas.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
CuriOdyssey offers children a unique opportunity to experience local wildlife and learn from hands-on science exhibits. During the past ten years, CuriOdyssey's annual average attendance has increased from just under 70,000 visitors to approximately 200,000 visitors, and the exhibit collection has more than doubled to 48 works.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommendation.